Talk:Girl Meets Ski Lodge (Part 2)/@comment-27892784-20160804032232/@comment-26999065-20160807150056
Sabrina is 2 years older than Rowan, but since Rowan’s character, Riley, is the protagonist, most developmental milestone would be centered around Riley and people her age. While she might not be as ready for more adult situations as some of her older co-actors (though she seems pretty darn smart and mature from what I’ve read), I like the fact Sabrina’s character, Maya, is older than Riley. It can only help add to the realism. The fact Sabrina/Maya is shorter/smaller than Rowan/Riley just makes the assumption Sabrina is younger than Riley a very likely assumption that most people would make. They are in the same grade, and any exceptional circumstances that led to Maya skipping a year or being held back in kindergarten would not be apparent just by looking at them. It’s even possible Topanga doesn’t know. Apart from Maya’s birthday being in January, there is no real reason to know Maya was born in 2001 (and not 2002) unless told. I’m not even sure Cory would know, unless he checked Maya’s records in the office for that information, and why would he? Obviously, Riley knows, being Maya’s BFF, and others may know or have been told, but unless it’s a super important detail (and how could it be to most adults who aren’t their parents) keeping birthdays and birth years straight isn’t that high a priority. You might be lucky if your parents can remember your own birthday, if you have a few siblings. Adults have a lot of other things on their minds. It's even possible they might forget your birthday sometimes. Now add the fact that January comes the month after December – it enforces the belief for anyone who might assume those two BFFs are about the same age to just assume Maya is one month younger. The person in the best position to discover this mistake, however, is Riley. She should know she is 3 years younger than her uncle Joshua, so Maya would only be two years younger. But only if Riley is really given a reason to sit down and do the math. Otherwise, the erroneous assumption might go unnoticed for a time yet. Riley probably thinks of Maya and her being about the same age, or feels that way, even when intellecutally she knows better, or whenever Joshua mentions he's three years older, Riley just doesn't make the connection, since, you know, that sounds right - he is 3 years older (than her). But it can’t endure for too much longer. It’s either going to become obvious to somebody else, PDQ, or the writers will have to officially retcon Joshua’s birthday to be February 14th, 1998. In a few months, in fact, since the "sweet 16" is a pretty big deal, and it's going to be for more obvious as it's mentioned more often in the coming weeks leading up to January, 2017. In fact, it'd probably be mentioned quite a bit running up to Riley's 15th, but if they still fail to notice in December, I'd be mystified they could keep missing it even for Maya's sweet 16.